Birthday Fun: Day 2

Sorry it took me so long to get to Day 2. Someone decided to give Noah a cold for his birthday, so I've been a little busy giving extra hugs and attention lately. Also, sorry for the light commenting lately. I just haven't had much time to catch up on everyone's posts.

Ok, enough of that.
On to Day 2 of the birthday fun!

Saturday, I spent most of the day baking. I decided to bake Noah's cake myself (carrot cake... and it was oh-so-yummy). I did the frosting with 3 oz cream cheese, powdered sugar, and whipped topping. I let him have a lick of the frosting when I made it, and he seemed to approve as he leaned in for more. :) For our other guests, I made cupcakes (yellow cake, cream cheese frosting... in case you were curious).

(in case you're wondering, those are steamed carrots)

Noah seemed to know something was up. He refused to take naps. He slept for about 45 min around noon, then another 45 min around 3ish. Why does that always seem to happen on the days we need him to be extra happy and awake?? Babies are so unpredictable sometimes.

I think I mentioned this before, but we did Noah's Ark for his theme.

I randomly placed stuffed animals all over the livingroom, and the above picture was our centerpiece (along with a cute tree). Brad did a great job decorating. He'd worked so hard outside with Art, that I felt like it was only fair if he got to do some of the fun part too. Noah loved the balloons, especially the one on his highchair.

(I'm so disappointed... in all of the chaos, I totally forgot his birthday hat! oh well.)

The guest list consisted mainly of family and close friends. And trust me, that was plenty. Had we invited any more people, I think our house might've busted at the seams. We have a decent sized home, but it fills up quickly! The other downside: our AC. Remember our AC drama from awhile ago? While we didn't have to get a new unit (yet), the poor thing just can't keep up with a hot house, doors opening and shutting, and all those people. Everyone was sweet enough not to complain, but I felt terrible that it was getting so hot.

I won't bore you with a ton of crowd shots, filled with people you don't really know, but I have to do a blog-buddy shout-out! Look, there's Lori! :)

(don't you love her dress??)

(you might be wondering why I included this picture. See my granddaddy in the back, talking to my uncle? From the look on his face, you'd think they were talking about politics or the housing market. No, they were discussing how to cook a perfect hamburger. Apparently, everytime they make them at our get-togethers, someone complains. Art blew them away with his burgers he cooked that day. They're thinking of hiring him for our next family event.)

As for the cake smashing... yeah, that didn't happen. We had all these images of Noah taking his first bite, fists full of carrot cake, frosting all over his face. Brad and I even argued over how we were going to "do" the cake smashing. I wanted to sit him next to the cake, letting him dive into it on his own; Brad wanted to sit him in the cake (in nothing but a diaper), because that's the way he did it when he was a baby. I won (was there any doubt?).  Actually, I compromised. I offered to let him sit next to it first, see what he did, then if he liked it, we'd sit him in it.

Well all of that debate was completely pointless. Noah had no idea what to do with it. In fact, we tried to show him by putting his hands in it for him. He then looked up at me like, "Why'd you do that?!" He was totally annoyed by the sticky frosting on his hands and wasn't the least bit interested in eating it.

My theory is that he was waaaayy freaked out by all of the people staring at him, taking pictures, singing, and waiting on him to do something important. He kept looking around the room as if he was thinking, "What are yall looking at? Why are all of you in my house? And why do my parents keep making me put my hands in this sticky goo???"

Needless to say, we're very happy we didn't try sitting him in it. It probably would've sent him over the edge.

I let him try some again... two days later... and he ate the whole piece. So at least I know it wasn't my cooking he was refusing. Because let me tell you, it turns out I make a darn good carrot cake! (this is not me bragging... this is me being totally surprised lol).

Noah seemed to have a good time. He was a little overwhelmed with all of the people, but he did really well. We definitely won't be doing this big of a thing next year, but I had a blast helping put it all together!